Ridstrom In Melbourne

Stand its done

2009-07-29T16:52:00.003+10:00

Tomorrow its the time for the exhibition "Life in Style". Today we did the stand and put up all the nice cupcake cases, sign and photos. It´s so many nice things on this exhibition. The girl next to us sells fabric and the one behind us sells silver jewlleries. She told us that it´s two diffrent exhibitions in Melbourne this weekend but this one is more high standard. You can see that when you walk around. So tomorrow they open at 1pm and at 6pm they will serve wine and some snacks and it will close at 9pm.

New hairstyle

2009-07-28T16:43:00.000+10:00

I look this good when I came back from the hair dresser. The man who cut my hair David lived in Bangkok for 7 years and just moved back to Melbourne a year ago. He asked me what I thought about Melbourne and before I respond he said - boring don´t you think!!! He´s from Scotland from the begining and he would like to move back to Europe or Asia again. He had a Hairdresser School in Bangkok. He was really nice to talk to and he also think its hard to get to know new people here. His wife was thai and had a massage school here.

Bike on the deck

2009-07-26T16:41:00.000+10:00

If you like to exercise but you don´t want to go away for a bike ride, you can just put this up on your sun deck in your backyard. Lukas like this a lot.

Müsli bars

2009-07-24T16:37:00.002+10:00

Instead of buying müsli bars we did ourself. The kids eat this every day at school during afternoon break. Now we know what they eat and it is so good. Jennys judges (friends) gave top score for this one. They love everything Jenny brings to school to eat.

Lollipop Lady

2009-07-21T16:31:00.001+10:00

Today I got my new outfit for the Lollipop Lady job. I´m going to look this good during work hours. You probably call it Crossing supervisor. This is the outfit you have during cold/wet weather. Normaly you have a yellow west and the hat. I´m at a school for small children "Boroondara Primary School". I´m starting next week and will be working 08:15-09:00am and 03:15-04:00pm. It is very close to where we live so I will take my bike to go there.

Sun deck

2009-07-19T16:28:00.000+10:00

Today we had a lot of sun and 15C. Then its time to sit outside to get some colour in your face. Its a little bit cold when the sun disapear but what can you expect in the middle of the winter.

Harry Potter

2009-07-18T16:24:00.000+10:00

This good looking where Jenny and her friend Sara when they went to see Harry Potters new movie. They thought the movie was so so but they had a great time in the mall taking pictures with the glasses.

Butcher

2009-07-16T16:19:00.000+10:00

Lukas got a part time job at the butcher close to where we live. He´s going to be there learning next week and then he will start working there the week after. He will work twice a week after school between 4 - 7pm. The butchers kids will work there during weekends and holidays but then Lukas can work at Lindendarry.

Coco Chanel

2009-07-15T16:08:00.000+10:00

We meet the young Garbrielle Chanel who learn to saw in a Catholic orphanage before following her singing ambitions lead her to a cabaret club. It is here where Chanel earns the nickname "Coco"and also where she catches the eye of several high society gentleman who would ignite her passion and become instrumental in the development of her remarkable career. Its a very good movie and I can recomend to see it.

Bikers

2009-07-12T16:05:00.000+10:00

Good looking guys going for a bike ride this morning. Its a lot of up and down here so its a bit hard to ride your bike in this hills. Its a lot of parks and nature if you compare to Shanghai. I hope they can still walk when they come home again.

Winter garden in Melbourne

2009-07-10T15:58:00.000+10:00

Its not what you expect in the middle of the winter but we´re on the other side of the world so everythings seems to be backvards. The lemons are growing on our backyard and it looks like its the beginning. The tree has explode into this nice yellow colour. In Sweden we would say its SPRING time.

Muscular girl

2009-07-09T15:49:00.000+10:00

Here is our girl who only have muscles on her body. She is on her favorite place "the trampolin". It look more that she is in a cage fighting a hulk or something. Its hard to think its winter if you look on her clothes. But when you jump a lot in the sun its getting hot.

Anders birthday

2009-07-08T20:29:00.002+10:00

Anders went up this morning and it was 2C and frost outside. That is not common when you are a summer child.

On the big day we went for Hot Pot for dinner. We were the only one in the resturant that was not chinese. Everything was so chinese like the interior, the cold, meny and the food. We could been in Shanghai. We of course missed our Hot Pot friends Family Beg. We all were very happy about the food the only thing was that the sause is better in china but it was okey. Back home again we had marrang dessert and presents. Anders got his knife sharpender so he was so happy. So now we have sharp knifes again.

Footy night

2009-07-05T21:46:00.000+10:00

Tonight Anders went for a Footy night. St.Kilda - Geelong played against each other and none of teams has lost a game this year. Both teams played well the whole time but in the end St.Kilda made the last score and won. Of course this is the team Anders like most so he was happy. He had a scarf with St.Kilda on when he came back home.

Delightful Designs

2009-07-04T15:38:00.001+10:00

Caroline and I have now stating our own business. The name of the company is "Delightful Designs". We´re going to sell Vestli House products who´s making designed cup cake cases for a start. We are going to be at the exhibition in Melbourne in the end of July. We have been to the bank, got an accounter and our company number. Now we preparing invoices, order sheets and information catalog. We also have a web site so you can have a look www.delightfuldesigns.info .It´s a lot to prepare for the exhibition but its a lot of fun and we are really looking forward to do this. Now we are just hoping that we will get a lot of customers because we have a lot of cup cake cases in stock. We already have two customers that we delivered cup cake cases to.

Trampolin

2009-07-02T15:34:00.002+10:00

Jenny started the winter month to buy a Trampolin to put in the backyard. It was the last one in the store we went to. It is big sale on toys this week. So now we have a happy girl who can jump all day long.

Aquarium

2009-07-01T17:24:00.000+10:00

Today me and Jenny took the tram to Melbourne and went to the Aquarium . We saw this pinguins and they were so cute. Of course they had sharks and a lot of other water animals that we never seen. After we met Anders for lunch at The Crown casino. Then we walked around in the city before we went back home again.

King of scores

2009-06-27T21:10:00.003+10:00

Today was our turn to score at Jennys basketball team. Anders went for a score class to learn the basic. When we came the other team parent who also scored was not that good at the clock so she wanted to score so Anders was in charge of the clock. What a challenge..... But the game finished with Balwyn Blazers as winner and that is Jennys team. They just won with one point so the teams was very equal. A very good match.

Lake Mountain and snow

2009-06-27T17:06:00.001+10:00

Jenny went with her friend Claire to Lake Mountain today to see snow. It is a two hour car ride from Melbourne. Sadly it was not that much snow and the snow they saw was very weet. They could build a half igloo that was all.

The son is back

2009-06-26T21:00:00.000+10:00

Today we went back to Red Hill to pick up Lukas after his two weeks away working hard. They were very pleased with him and he was very happy working there as well. He has been working very hard and late so he will probably sleep now for two weeks when he is off from school. He is welcome back to work when the high season is comming in October and he is off from school. They will probably see him again. He has been working on all diffrent part of the place like reception, cleaning, kitchen, resturant and conferance.

The Proposal

2009-06-23T20:54:00.001+10:00

Today I went to the movie myself to see "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock (Margret) and Ryan Reynolds (Andrew). When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she´s actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew, who she´s tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. A nice comedy and laughs but quit bredictible.

Scones

2009-06-21T20:49:00.002+10:00

Lukas and his friend Cassy baked australian scones with choklat inside. When they were ready you eat them with jam and cream. I think we had flour all over the kitchen when they were done.

The Hangover

2009-06-20T20:41:00.001+10:00

Tonight Lukas, Anders and I went to the movie and saw "The Hangover". Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three buddies drive to Vegas for a blowout night they´ll nerver forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can´t remember a thing. Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to found. This movie is so funny and we laught so much. This is a movie you must see.

Kanguru for dinner

2009-06-19T20:35:00.000+10:00

Anders cooked kanguru for dinner tonight with potatas in owen. It tasted like any other meet you eat maybe a little bit chewy. At least we have tryed it now.

Plumpudding

2009-06-16T19:48:00.001+10:00

Today I´ve been at my neighbours house helping out preparing Plumpudding for Christmas. Her sons school is making 700 plumpuddings for sale. It is a english cake they eat here for Christmas. They are raising money for the school. So the first thing was to taking of the skin from the lemons and it was a lot of lemons I can tell.

Work Experiens for Lukas

2009-06-15T19:40:00.002+10:00

This morning we drop Lukas of at this place. It is a wineyard called "Lindenberry" located in Red Hill 100km outside Melbourne. Lukas will spend his two weeks of work experiens here. The guy who will take care of Lukas is Julian. Julian is the son of the family who own this wineyard. Anders dad know the owner and that how we got in contact with them. He will stay at the hotel the whole week and he will just come home over the weekend. The have weddings, conferences and weekends.

School play

2009-06-12T19:33:00.001+10:00

Today the kids are off from school and Jenny has some friends over. They are practising for the school play but telling from the picture it look more like a horror movie. The play called "Pandora" and they had a lot of fun and lots of laughs.

"The Dream"

2009-06-09T23:14:00.000+10:00

Today we went to see Lukas play in "The Dream" at his Drama class production. It is a part from Shakespears "The Midsummer Dream". Lukas plays "Botton" and a fairy turn him into a Dunky but in the end he is a man again who falls in love and kill himself. We were sitting in the Drama room so it was small so we almost sat at the scen. Everybody was very good and it was fun to see them play.

Hail

2009-06-08T19:11:00.002+10:00

Early evening we had hail and it almost look like snow. This is the closest we get to snow in Melbourne.

Driving Ranch

2009-06-08T14:07:00.000+10:00

The back yard is big so way don´t use it for a Driving Ranch!! Practice and you get better they say so we will see next summer when we go back to Sweden.

Dinner and Dice

2009-06-07T19:02:00.001+10:00

Yesterday we had Lisa and Andrew here for dinner. Anders did a really good lasagna and sallad. We had red wine and for dessert we had vanilla ice cream and warm rasberrys. After dinner we played "Dice". A game we learned from Begs in Shanghai. We played to 4am this morning so today we are a little bit tired.

Jewellery making

2009-06-05T18:52:00.002+10:00

This week I made a lot of new designs of jewelleries. I have had no insperation at all and this week a got a lot. They say that the Australians love "homepartys" so I will try to start to have some soon. I will start at my friend Åsas house. I hope it will work out fine.

Samson & Delilah

2009-06-03T18:46:00.001+10:00

Today I went to the movie with my neighbor Paula and saw "Samson & Delilah". The movie is about Samson and Delilah´s small world in an isolated community in the Central Australians desert. When tragedy strikes they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. They don´t say many words during the movie but it is a strong and very touthing story about the two teenagers. I can recomend seeing it.

Blond again

2009-06-02T18:44:00.000+10:00

Purple hair is gone and no we have old blond Lukas back with really short hair. I don´t think we have seen him it that short before.

Grandma Maja 90 years old

2009-05-30T17:34:00.001+10:00

Here my grandma Maja turning 90 years old and everybody was there celebrate her except us at our summer house at Bullandö. We couldn´t be there but we could get everybody together at our house at least. They were lucky with the weather with sun and heat. The pool was 82F so they swam a lot during the day. Wish we were there at the time.

Vestli House

2009-05-25T17:21:00.000+10:00

I and Caroline is trying to find out if cupcakes holders are for the Australian market. We´re working together with Vestli House in Sweden who makes these nice packages. Their are many different ways we could do this so we just have to figure it out how. The response we got so fare from the people and stores that we asked is "wow" they look nice. But from that and getting along with the price and what quantity to order is long.

Family portrait

2009-05-22T17:16:00.000+10:00

This portrait of us was making of an artist in Shanghai. We have them on the wall in the kitchen here in Melbourne. He just maked them from passphoton of us and I think we look like ourself.

Step Into Life

2009-05-18T11:21:00.001+10:00

This is what I do four times a week. Step Into Life is an oraganisation that do exercis program outside in diffrent parks around Melbourne. It´s always diffrent things to do so it never gets borring. Toning program this week is band next week weights and then pilatesball. When we have cardio we run in all diffrent ways you can imagen and you are really tired after one hour.

Plume Resturant

2009-05-17T14:17:00.000+10:00

Today we went to Plume Resturant for chinese brunch. We went with family Chan. Kristina and I go to exercis together and Annika and Jenny see each other a lot over the weekends. Kristinas husband Andrew and their son Steven was there too. It was really good and we sat and ate for two hours. They come to your table with small plates and you take the things that you like.

Ghost of Girlfriends Past

2009-05-08T16:53:00.000+10:00

If you like to go and see a sweet and cute movie you can go and see "Ghost of Girlfriends Past" with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas. The story is about celebrity photographer Connor Mead loves freedom, fun and women - in that order. A committed bachelor with a no-strings policy, he thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple women on a conference call while prepping his next date. When his brother is going to get married three ghost from the past visiting him and he will go back in time and see what he mist.

Our house

2009-05-04T16:51:00.000+10:00

This is our house from the outside. On the left from the door is Lukas room and the windows in the corner is the livingroom. We don´t have a hall so we go directly into the livingroom and that is not that good.

Balwyn Blazers

2009-05-02T20:47:00.000+10:00

Jenny started playing Basketball. They practice once a week and they play games on Saturdays. So now we´re driving to diffrent schools around this area to see her play. They lost this game but we hope it will be better next time. All the girls are new in this team so it will take a while to learn how to play together.

World Challenge

2009-04-28T21:37:00.000+10:00

Today we went to Balwyn High School for a metting with World Challenge. World Challenge is the expedition company providing educational expeditions abroad to schools. There expeditions teach life skills and expand minds outside the classroom. Students and teachers benefit from a level of safety and service second to none and our bespoke 4-week expedition itineraries guarantee an amazing adventure abroad! Last year in December they went to Madagaskar and this time November 2010 the trip will go to India. The kids will earn the money themself through work and diffrent ways do race money. They have to get $6.800 (au dollar) each. It will start now and they have 18 month to do so. When Lukas heard about this he said he wants to go. It sound so intressting and exating.

Our house inside

2009-04-21T12:19:00.002+10:00

Livingroom

Kitchen

Lukas room

Jennys room

Master bedroom

Purple hair

2009-04-18T21:15:00.001+10:00

Lukas went with his friends to Philips Island to his friend Tims moms house. Tim wanted his hair purple but his hair is dark so you could not see any color. So the girls said why don´t we try on Lukas hair and see if it shows. So when I opened the door when he came home today he looked like this.

Strange weather

2009-04-15T12:07:00.001+10:00

Waked up this morning and it was blowing so you thought the roof was blowing off. Run out to save the clothing hanging outside drying. It was a very strange color at the sky and it was blowing so much. This is a tree in our backyard behind the garage. They warned about tornadoes during the day but it never came to where we live. Lucky us.

St. Kilda

2009-04-12T23:58:00.000+10:00

St. Kilda is one of Melbounes nicest area. On Sundays the area takes over by artists, fleemarket and antiqdealers along the street. In the middle there is also an old funpark with some small rides. A lot of nice resturants along the ocean and also in the city. They have a nice pir that you can walk out to the end and there is a resturant. In the water you can see small penguins swimming around. I found the picture on the internet. We had our camera but it was no memory card in it so we couldn´t take any pictures ourself.

Otway Fly Treetop Walk

2009-04-11T11:42:00.001+10:00

On the way home from Lorne we stayed at "Otway Fly Treetops Walk". Its a place where they have built bridges high up over the ground, around 50m up. Little to high for me but Anders and the kids loved it. They also had a tower 25m futher up and it moved a lot up there I can promise you. On the way back down both Lukas and Jenny went on the rope. Helmet and ropes tides around them and down they went. It went fast for them to get to the ground.

Lorne

2009-04-11T10:31:00.001+10:00

Today we went to Lorne for a daytrip. It is about 100km from Melbourne next to the ocean. We took the "The Great Ocean Road" along the coust when we went there and back home we took the highway. The Great Ocean Road was fantastic and you could almost all a long see the ocean. We also saw a wild koala next to the road sitting in a tree low down. A lot of people stoped to take picutres of him and he look almost drunk sitting on the branch stretching his leg. He was so cute. We stoped at a BBQ place and had nice hotdogs and pasta for lunch in the sun.

Easter

2009-04-10T22:24:00.000+10:00

Hearing-lunch at home but first the kids painting eggs at the backyard. The paint was so strong so when we peald the egg the egg hade pattern on it. After lunch they where looking for the swedish easter egg and it took them some time to find out where they were. Filled with swedish candy from Ikea.

New camera

2009-04-05T11:19:00.002+10:00

Jenny got some money for her birthday and now she has bought a new camera. It is a digital one but you can also take pictures under water with it. So offcourse she went to the pool with her friend and took a lot of pictures. Here is one of Jenny under the water in the pool. She loves to take pictures so this was a perfect present for her.

New hairstyle

2009-04-04T11:15:00.000+11:00

Jenny got a new hairstyle and she looks so cute. Diffrent but very nice.

Boxes from Sweden

2009-04-02T15:11:00.001+11:00

Now all the boxes from Sweden has arrived. Almost everyone is unpacked now and it is so full everywhere. Some china was broken but most things was okey. Golfclubs and diving equitment so now we just have to start getting active.

Drama class

2009-04-01T20:05:00.000+11:00

Lukas has Drama in school and last week they had audition for the school play this year. Lukas tried out for the head part and got it. He is now playing a 16 year old boy who has lecumia and he´s going on his last vaccation with his family. The name of the play is "Away". Every week somebody in the class are baking and this week it is was Lukas turn and this is what he maked. Nice muffin with choclat topping.

Formula 1

2009-03-29T22:56:00.000+11:00

So now it is time for Formula 1 in Melbourne. Dinos appartment is just next to the race track and he has a terrass on the roof so you have a perfect view over the track. So ofcourse everybody came to him to see the race. We had a BBQ and watch the game. Dino had also put a big tv screen outside so you could watch the diffrent team closely. When the cars started the noise was unbeliveble. Jensen Button the Australian won so that was extra fun for Melbourne.

Lukas the hippie

2009-03-28T17:52:00.000+11:00

This is how handsome Lukas was when he was dressed as a hippie ready to leave to his friend Cassy's sweet 16 party. My old disco scarf from last year turned into a perfect head band this year. They were around 20 people at the party and had a great time. Lukas and a couple of other people spent the night at Cassy's house. A very tired lukas was picked up the next day.

Anders in Sydney

2009-03-28T17:33:00.001+11:00

Anders got up really early this morning to catch a flight to sydney where he had to go to a convention. It was excelent weather there which was good because there was alot of walking. There was also a beautiful sun set there before he had to catch his flight back later at night.

Pias birthday

2009-03-26T12:40:00.003+11:00

You can always wish it was the number on the table that is my new age. Waking up this morning with song, candles, fresh strawberrys, flowers and a lot of presents. Then it was time for traning and today we run 5 km. After our session my nice group of runners took me to a cafe and we had a nice time. Tonight my husband is going to cook a nice meal at home. What more can you wish for on your birthday.

1000 Steps

2009-03-22T17:34:00.002+11:00

We have to look around our close area and see what we can offer our guests when they are comming to see us. We got a tip about a park where they have diffrent walks. One of them called "1000 steps". It is 1.5 km upp hill with steps and back. You can really fill it in your legs when you are done. They also have a walk called "Forest walk" we will try that next time.

Try to find the wild kagurus

2009-03-21T17:29:00.000+11:00

Somebody told us that you could see wild kagurus near us in a park. Of course we had to go there and see if we could find any and we didn´t. We saw a lot of diffrent birds and rabbits. This parrots you see everywhere and they sound a lot. They have a lot of nice bbq in the park where you can bring your own food and have a picnic.

Jennys birthdayparty

2009-03-21T16:25:00.001+11:00

Three girls starting with Taco dinner and then went to the movie to see "Duplisity" that they didn´t like. Back home doing face masks, footbath, nailpolish and cake. Late in bed and sleepover of course. It sounds that they had a really good time. On the picture Alex, Jenny and Tamara.

Jenny 13

2009-03-20T14:46:00.005+11:00

Now we have two teenager in the house. Jenny is turning 13 today. We were up singing with cake and presents in bed. Tonight she is going to the cinema to see "Comfessions of a Shoppoholic".

Sleepover again

2009-03-14T21:42:00.000+11:00

Two tired girls. Tamara sleeping over again and they have so much fun. Nonstop talking and lauging and late to bed. How is it possible it´s so much fun to sleepover!!!

Stig och Anders

2009-03-11T14:25:00.001+11:00

Being to the bookclub today and we picked a new book for next month. We´re reading the Swedish authour Stig Larsson first book "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo". I reed it in Swedish and it is so good. I have to read it again because I also reed the second and third book so I don´t get comfused when we are going to talk about it. The movie just showing in Sweden now. The second book just came out in english this January 2009. Anders has been away to Shanghai and St. Anton but are comming back this evening. We have really missed him so it´s going to be so nice to have him back. Of course he had a long list of things to bring back from Shanghai and Sweden. He meet his dad in Shanghai that got a list of things that we wanted from Sweden and he could give to Anders. It´s going to be like Christmas when we unpack the suitcases tonight.

St. Anton

2009-03-07T20:44:00.000+11:00

Janne, Roger, Lasse, Petter, Anders, Johan, Stefan och Magnus

Earthquake

2009-03-06T22:15:00.001+11:00

Tonight when Lukas and I was in the rumpus room it felt like somebody drove a bulldozer into our house and the roof was flying off. We just looked at eachother and said did you feel it and what was it?? Lukas was chatting with his friend who was at Philips Island fare away from where we live and he also felt the shake. Later at the evening we watched the news and they said that it has been an earthquake and it was at 4,6. No people was hurt but buildings was shaking a lot all over. It was the biggest shake since 9 years back.

Green Day Today

2009-03-02T20:13:00.003+11:00

Today was sports day in school and everyone was in diffrent teams. Our kids were in the same team,the green team. New green cloths were bought as shown in the picture. Jenny even had green nail polish and hair, but it went away when sha went swiming. A hot day spent by the pool; could be worse.

Weekends with Friends

2009-03-01T19:57:00.001+11:00

This weekend the kids was busy with new friends. Jenny had her friend Tamara sleeping over. They used the big camera and put it on long legs and used the timer. A lot of pictures and a lot of laught. Lukas friends thought it was time for him to see Melbourne the city so they took him with the tram and went for the whole day. In the evening they took him to a Thai resturant near by were we live and celebrate his birthday. He was very happy and back home around 12pm. Me and Jenny took the car and went for Ikea driving on the left side. I drove and Jenny looked in the map. They have a map book here called Melway. Many times resturants and stores refer to this book and it is so good when you want to find your way. We made it there and back home as we planed. For dinner we had steak and good green salad.

Lukas Birthday

2009-02-25T21:51:00.000+11:00

Lukas turning 16 what did the time went..... We started the morning singing for Lukas diffrently because he was up before everybody so we went under his blanket in his bed and when he came in we sang for him and guess if he was supprised when he came in to his room. He got the book to "Learn to drive, Drive to learn" and money so he was happy. For dinner he wanted blue mussles in white wine and for dessert Lukas made frozen cheesecake with rasberry, sooooo good.

Movie to see

2009-02-20T22:10:00.001+11:00

Today I went with my Bookclub to the cinema. We saw "The Reader" a very good movie that I can recomend to see. A romantic drama is set in a post-World War II Germany, and tells the story of “a man whose life has been shaped by an illicit affair with a passionate, elusive older women during his youth. The film stars Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennesome actors in the movie and also a swedish actor Lena Olin.

Jenny is back from Camp

2009-02-19T21:59:00.002+11:00

Jenny is back from camp and she thought is was to short. She had a great time and got a lot of new friends. Her two very special friends are Claire and Tamara as you can see in the picture. They went for a bikeride, Jenny was the only one who biked all the way up the hill think the rides back and forth to school is paying off, shipwreck walk, snorkling and surfing. The first night they slept in a cabine and second night in a tent with her two friends. Jenny loved surfing and like to go to surfcamp soon. They also saw koala bears, wallabis and a blue tonged lizard in the wild.

Bikeride and pool party

2009-02-15T22:02:00.001+11:00

Today I and Anders took our bikes for a ride in the park. It was so nice and it felt like the rainforest sometimes. It was also very dry and some crazy person put on a fire Thursday evening but 70 fire fighters could stop it during the night to Friday. We were out for three hours and we saw a lot of birds like white parrots, corps and stork. In the after noon we were invited to a pool party at Åsas house. It was two other familys there too and we had a nice afternoon. Drinking beer and soda and eating hotdogs. Around eight we went home so Jenny could pack her bags for camp tomorrow.

Perfect temperature

2009-02-14T23:46:00.003+11:00

Today has been perfect weather like a nice summer day 27C and a little windy. We have been visting another beach wiht cristall clear water, white sand and just a few people. The kids digged holes and made funny moves infront of the camera. Just relaxing and reading books as good as you can wish for. Look at the red yellyfish in the clear water.

Smoke over Melbourne

2009-02-13T23:40:00.002+11:00

As you can see at the picture it is smoke over Melbourne/Viktoria. You can see the line where the smoke is and where the nice blue sky is. According to the news it seems that they have the fires under controll and they also arrested a person they beleive is responsible for at least one fire that killed 21 people. They think some fires are deliberately lit.

NOT burning in North Balwyn

2009-02-10T23:31:00.000+11:00

Here where we live is not burning. The closest fire is 60km from our house. The wind is not in our direction so we don´t smell the smoke at all. It is hard to understand that the fires are so close to us when you watch tv and we don´t see it. The news is on all the time talking about the fire and how people collect money for the victims. It is very hilly where we live and right now the tempeture is down to 18C so it is a little bit to cold right now after all that heat.

More relaxed style

2009-02-09T09:46:00.002+11:00

Today is Day four in school and it feels a little bit more relaxed when putting on the uniform. Jenny made her dress much shorter and thiner and Lukas is wering trousers. Of course they take the bike to school and to go there it takes 10min because it's down hill and getting home 20min because it's up hill.

Cooler today

2009-02-08T18:37:00.001+11:00

Today it is much cooler outside 25C and it was so nice. We have been around the house today cleaning up the garage and unpacked the last boxes inside the house and put stuff into the garage. Anders has been washing the car and we also went shopping for some school materials. I drove for the first time on the wrong side of the road. Every time I was turning I put on the windscreen wipers and every time I was so supprised. Everything is on the wrong side in the car. In our house the door knobs are very high up so you feel like a dwarf. Jenny is not as short as she looks like in the picture :).

As hot as it could be

2009-02-08T18:01:00.001+11:00

Today we had a heat record ever in Melbourne 47C. So where should you be on a hot day like that? We went along the coast to "Gunna Matta beach". White sand, turquoise water and waves. We bought a beach tent to bring along, so now we really look like locals. It's a must in this heat. We also had a big coolerbag with water and lunch. The water temprature was around 25C but in the begining it felt really cold, but it was so nice compared to the heat. We were standing or swimming in the water all day and was just in the tent for lunch. Then the sun disepeared and it got a little bit cooler and so nice.

Lukas has got a new pet

2009-02-07T04:50:00.001+11:00

Lukas got a new pet. We didn´t ask for it, it moved in by itself. He´s kind of cute and harmless. This morning when he made his bed he found a big spider in his cover that was not at all nice.

Anders new computer desk

2009-02-05T21:56:00.002+11:00

Anders got a new computer desk that you lay down in your lap. It is like a pillow with a board attached to it. It is very comfortable when you like to sit on the sofa chatting with your friend on the computer.

First Day of School

2009-02-05T18:01:00.000+11:00

So then the first day of school was finished. A lot of good impressions and a lot of new faces but no complaints and a lot of laughter at the dinner table. Lukas even met a guy that went to scis in shanghai. Jenny's teacher asked Jenny what state she was from, Jenny didn't understand what she meant and said she was from Sweden. They think she has such an American accent and it sounds so cute. She also says that they don't say "no" here but pronounce it "nore" and it sounds really weird. And they said it was real embarrassing because both Jenny and Lukas had PE but they came in their regular uniform, when the whole class had their PE uniform on. Jenny has PE tomorrow so it is collard shirt with shorts and her own shoes on.

Monday Evening

2009-02-03T17:47:00.000+11:00

So it nears the first school day, which is on Wednesday this week. So we have been to the school again and gotten information and more peppers to fill in, and we also got a tour of the school. Tomorrow we have to go buy book from this long list we received. We haven't really understood it yet but it'll probably turn out ok. It is still very hot but atleast now you can stand it. Today we had 32c. We keep working on the house but it never seems to end. We have also been to Coles (store) today, it seems we spend alot of time there right now when we have to fill the racks with things like spices.

School Uniform

2009-02-01T17:13:00.000+11:00

Yesterday Friday it was time for our first visit to "Balwyn High School". There was a whole pile of peppers to fill in and a bunch of choices make. The school starts on Monday but all the newcomers don't start until Wednesday. It is a very school and only in tenth grade there is 365 students. Grade seven that jenny is starting is the lowest grade in the school so there will be alot of new students coming. The first impression of the school was very good. After we had been at the school we went to the place that sells uniforms, which you have to wear in the school. The uniform was very old fashion, so you couldn't help but to laugh when you saw it. It's good you have kids with a sense of humor.

Heat Record

2009-01-29T12:54:00.000+11:00

Today there was a heat record in Melbourne. It was 44c in the shade. So we went to the beach. It was a very nice beach win fine sand and crystal clear water. It was hard to find a place with some shade but we finally managed to find some by a bench with a big sheet thing over it. There we spent the whole day. And when we weren't in the shade we were in the water cooling off. The water wasn't far at all from where we were sitting but you still had to wear your flip flops when you went down to the water because the sand was burning hot. So here we spent the day covered in 30spf sun screen. Later Anders picked us up and we got to see his office and all his colleges. Then we went to a thai-malay restaurant with Dino. They had excellent food in there and it was nice and cool. When we got home the thermostat showed 34c although it was passed ten. We only have air conditioning in the kitchen so the kids made up beds and spent the night in there.

Philips Island

2009-01-27T13:56:00.001+11:00

There were alot of beautiful views and water on our way, but our destination for the day was a Penguin sanctuary. Here you could se the little penguins (around 30cm high) waded out of the water to meet there partners (who came all the way down to the water to greet them) and take home the food they caught back to their children. It was very romantic to see them go meet each other and see how happy they were when they did. Then they would walk back to their nest which could be up to 1km away from the beach.

Beautiful places

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000+11:00

There were alot of beautiful places and sights we saw on the way to our destination. We even stopped and had a very typical ozzy meal "fish and chips" in a papperrap.

Surfers

2009-01-25T18:54:00.000+11:00

After the zoo we went to Smith Beach where we had a good time on the beach laying in the sun and the kids bought surfingboards that you lay on. They were in the water the whole day surfing. We had sunscreen 20 and 30 on but we got burned any way. That we will feel tomorrow.

Zoo

2009-01-25T18:52:00.000+11:00

Today we went to the Philips Isand it is 120km from us. On the way we find a small zoo. They had kagurus, kola, emus and wombats mm. We bought food for the animals and went in to the kagurus and fed them. They were so cute with theirs eyelashis and small feet. We also saw a white kaguru that we have never seen before.

Swedish church

2009-01-25T16:41:00.000+11:00

Today we got all our things from Ikea, the internet guy was here fixing the internet and the dryer is deliverd also. Our kids are going to be so good when they move from home putting together all ikea furniture. After so many moves they know how to put everything together and reading the manuel. In the evening we went to the Swedish church to go for a BBQ and meet some new people we thought. They had a really nice place downtown best area with a wonderful garden and a pool. The people there was more in my grandparents age and nice but making new friends and see other children was out of the question. They played swedish music and they made good food but after that we said we had to go home.

Settle down

2009-01-21T15:30:00.000+11:00

Now we have been in Melbourne for three days and the jetlag is really good. Anders has been unpacking lot of our staff before we came but now we need to buy things to put them in. Me and the kids went with the Tram to the big house Ikea. It was so hot to walk from to the tram och from the tram. Ikea looks exactly as home Stockholm/Shanghai. Now we have a list of all the things that we need to buy so we are going back tomorrow and let them send the furniture home.

Just arrived to Melbourne

2009-01-18T06:30:00.000+11:00

Today we came to Melbourne after a long trip from Sweden - Germany - Hongkong - Melbourne. We flu with Cathay Pacific Airways and it was great. It wasn´t as bad as I thought and everything was smothy even the kids thought it was okey. So if you want to come and visit us don´t let the flighttime be a reason not to come. When we arrived at the house we saw all these guests that live around our house.